Survive and Thrive

Survive and Thrive

  • Summer 2020
    • Blossoming in Survival
    • College Sports during COVID-19
    • College Enrollment Today
    • Dairy Farming
    • North End Dining
    • Back to School in Chelsea
    • Essential ‘Nonessentials’
    • Gig Jobs in the Pandemic
    • Tourism in Miami
    • Music Therapy
    • Neighborhood Businesses
    • Somerville Restaurants
    • The Ripple Effect
    • Turks in Massachusetts
  • Summer 2019
    • Abortion in America: Then & Now
    • After the Shooting Stops
    • All In the Family (Business)
    • Behind America’s Hometown
    • Boston’s Bakers Rise to the Challenge
    • Crossing from North to South
    • Down and Dirty in Boston
    • Net-Zero from the Ground Up
    • Happy Paradox for Asian Americans
    • What’s up in Boston’s Hip-Hop
    • The Underserved and Climate Change
    • Repairing Right to Repair
    • The Silicone Sickness Movement
  • Summer 2018
    • Come Hear the New Queer
    • Re-crafting Beer Culture
    • Gun Doves To Hawks
    • Korean Culture Hits US
    • Overworked and Undernourished
    • Boston’s Independent Theaters
    • The Power of DNA and How We Use It
    • How Women Rank in College Sports
    • Transgender Athletes: Prejudice or Positivity?
    • Blockchain and Bitcoin Outlook
    • Weeded Out
    • Perception of Veganism
    • More Than a Headache
  • Summer 2017
    • Aging in Boston
    • Boston Hair Care: Diversity & Choice
    • Climate Change in New York City
    • Listening for a Cure
    • Helping Homeless Stay Healthy
    • Study & Deliver
    • The Tech Divide: Teachers vs. Students
    • Together to Stop Youth Violence
    • Pretty hurts: Behind the clean beauty revolution
  • Spring 2017
    • Psychology of feminism
    • Ready to Lead
    • Running in Heels
    • Single Moms: Struggles and Hopes
    • Trips and Treatment
    • Unspoken and Untreated
    • Working at 50+
    • Zero Waste, Infinite Impact
  • Spring 2016
    • Accommodating Transgender
    • All in: Indian Gaming
    • Alone with Food Allergies
    • A Way to Innocence
    • Facing Anti-Muslim Hatred
    • Millennials Move In
    • Our Bodies, Our Struggle
    • Robotics: On a Limb
    • Service Dogs: Fact & Fiction
    • Staying on Pointe
    • Surviving Intimate Trauma
    • Two Homelands, One Love
  • Archive
    • Spring 2015
      • Back to Basics: Holistic Health
      • Beauty Expectations of Black Women
      • Boston 2024 Olympics
      • #BostonFitnessFads
      • Boston Mindfulness
      • Ca$hing in on Cyber$ecurity
      • Exposing Local Anti-Semitism
      • Families Serving Time
      • Fueling the Future
      • Helping the Homeless
      • Heroin: Beyond the Addiction
      • Mobile Language Learning
      • Overdose Oversight
      • Regrowing NE’s Country Roots
      • Robots Among Us
      • Self-image: Beyond the Scale
      • Styling Beantown
      • Tackling Combat Sports
      • The Algorithm Revolution
      • Through Boston Teachers’ Eyes
      • Toxic Nails
      • Wanted: More Women Leaders
      • World-Class Boston?
    • Spring 2014
      • Big Effect of Small-time Football
      • Bike Friendly Boston
      • Birth: Au Naturale
      • Bottle Bill Battle
      • Coastal Conversion
      • Deportation: Brink of Separation
      • Gay, Young and Homeless
      • Girls, STEM and Startups
      • HIV Positive Outlook
      • Immigrant Women & Domestic Abuse
      • Lost at 18
      • Nutrition Literacy
      • Recycling: 1 Bin or 2?
      • Reviving the Written Word
      • Treating Sexual Assault Remotely
      • Vinyl’s Comeback?
    • Fall 2013
      • Big Data in Health Care
      • Helping the Hungry
      • Lost at 18
      • Rehabbing Urban Wildlife
      • Startup Beauties
      • Sustainable Action
    • Spring 2013
      • Asperger’s in Adulthood
      • Chinese Grad Student Boom
      • Community in CrossFit
      • Death by Rx
      • Degreed and Underemployed
      • Geek is Chic
      • Growing Up Muslim
      • Nitrogen Nightmare?
      • Pit Bull Perception
      • Preservin’ the Classics
      • Right to Learn?
      • U.S. Women Made in China
      • Unsolved Gun Violence
      • Young & Homeless
    • Fall 2012
      • Better Workspaces
      • Black Beauty?
      • Broke Not Broken
      • Cheering Challenges
      • Going Social
      • Rainbow Religion
      • Style in Boston
      • The Play State
      • The Sporting Epidemic

Unspoken and Untreated

“Why are you depressed? If our people could make it through slavery, we can make it through anything.” “When a black woman suffers from a mental disorder, the opinion is that she is weak. And weakness in black women is intolerable.” “You should take your troubles to Jesus, not some stranger/psychiatrist.”

According to Mental Health of America, “the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness, reports these are three common myths and misconceptions that surround mental illness in the black community.

In the African-American community, mental illness carries a stigma and health professionals indicate that is a key factor that influences this stigma.Lack of knowledge causes people to think of mental illness as a weakness, the “blues”, a punishment from God, or something to snap out of noted the National Association for Mental Illness (NAMI).

The lack of information and misunderstanding of mental illness can make it very difficult to find help when you may need it.

Kevin Milton, a 19-year-old Emerson College student, knew he was showing signs of depression but he said his father didn’t think of depression as an illness or immediate concern.

Religion can influence black mental health attitudes

April 28, 2017 Amanda Best 0

Amanda Best
Faith communities play a huge role in attitudes toward dealing with mental health issues among African-Americans.

Navigating finding a mental health care provider

April 28, 2017 Amanda Best 0

Amanda Best
Several resources are available to finding mental health professionals of color in the Boston area.

Boston residents advocate for mental health awareness

April 28, 2017 Amanda Best 0

Amanda Best
Boston residents Vitalis Osugi and Joseph Feaster lost loved ones to suicide and stand up to the mental health stigma in their communities.

Socio-economic factors influence the mental health stigma

April 28, 2017 Amanda Best 0

Amanda Best
Several factors increase the risk for mental health conditions in communities of color.

About the Author

  • Amanda Best



    Amanda is a second year journalism graduate student at Emerson College with a passionate for all aspects of broadcast news. She is passionate about social justice issues, music journalism, and community-building. Amanda believes in the power of journalism to showcase underrepresented voices and inspire powerful dialogue and action.

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